Cyprus struggles to pay public wages

Cyprus may struggle to pay public sector salaries in December unless a bailout deal is clinched by mid-November, an official document quoted finance minister Vassos Shiarly as saying.

The confidential minutes of an Oct 3 meeting in parliament quoted Shiarly as saying Cyprus might be “butchered” if international lenders dealt with the small country in isolation from other eurozone states that need financial aid.

The minutes, reported in the Politis newspaper yesterday, illustrated the growing unease at delays in meeting financial aid needs, which the troika has put at up to €16bn.